A. Statement (1) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) by itself is not.B. Statement (2) BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) by itself is not.C. Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, even though NEITHER statement BY ITSELF is sufficient.D. Either statement BY ITSELF is sufficient to answer the question.E. Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question, meaning that further information would be needed to answer the question.

(E) Statement (1) is insufficient: we cannot determine the value of x without knowing the value of y.

If we multiply both sides of the equation in Statement (2) by 4, we get:x + 4 = 4(y + 1), or x + 4 = 4y + 4.Subtracting 4 from both sides gives us:x = 4y. This statement is also insufficient.

Combined, both statements are still insufficient. When we substitute the second equation into the first, we get:y² = 4y.

We cannot simply divide each side of the equation by y because this is a quadratic equation, and we do not know that y is not equal to 0.

We must set the equation equal to zero and factor it:y² – 4y = 0y(y – 4) = 0y = 0 or 4.

Possible solutions for (x,y) are (0,0) and (16,4). But, we aren't looking for "possible" solutions, we are interested in THE solution. Since we do not have sufficient information to determine the value of x, even after combining the statements, the correct answer is choice (E).---------

The question doesn't ask for a real value of x, or a value not in terms of other variables. So x very literally could be y², or x could be y – 3. Just because the 2 are not reconcilable with the given information, does not mean that either is not an acceptable answer.

Substituting the values of x and y back in the equation 2 must satisfy it. But the values of y = 4 and x = ±2 does not satisfy equation 2... only x = 0 and y = 0 satisfies both the equations and hence numerical value of x can be found.

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